Disclaimer: I don't own Girl Meets World or anything pertaining to it except my own ideas and writing.
Maya loved Riley's handwriting. It was a mismatched conglomerate of big and small letters, bubbly, and it somehow managed to exude happiness, just like Riley herself. Sometimes Maya took note that her own words, specific letters, looked a bit like Riley's, and she could safely say with confidence that it had to be because of their years-long friendship.
She didn't just love Riley's handwriting, though. Maya had come to see after only a short while of knowing Riley that everything about Riley was beautiful, and she could only hope to match her one day. Riley always shook her head if Maya were to say this aloud, assuring Maya that she was perfect just the way she was and if anyone were a role model it would be Maya, not Riley!
Riley would take her hand and smile tearfully during a particular scene of some heartfelt movie they'd both seen together twenty times already, or hold Maya as she cried on an especially rough day of remembering that Maya's father wasn't around and never would be. Riley, with her doe eyes and the softest cheeks anyone could ever hope to touch.
She loved Riley's handwriting, her brown eyes that shone gold in the sun, her skin that had been blessed smooth and flawless even through puberty; she loved how tall Riley had become, the way she held her chin up high despite being bullied for her optimism and the fact that she never let it change her; her sense of right and wrong, the look in those golden eyes when they fell upon Maya, wide and open just for her.
Maya knew she didn't love all these things in the way a best friend does, ending there and that's that. She knew she cared for Riley far more than anyone else in her life, and that the squeezes delivered to her hand meant something more than any appreciative look she could ever receive from a boy in the halls. She wanted to be held by Riley, where they both knew it meant something else.
She took the notebook Riley reserved for English class and quickly sketched a flower accompanied by some must notes beside a scribble that read, Hello. I love you. Riley grinned when she saw it.
I could write the next line, but I already know your name. :P
After that period, being the last, they took the underground back to Riley's as they normally did. They were 17 now and things were different. The one thing, though, that Maya had always been able to count on over anything else was Riley being there. They sat together at the bay window; Maya drew while Riley read for class.
Riley looked up some minutes later and said that Lucas had asked her out. They'd been on and off since middle school, Maya knew, and lately it seemed like Lucas wanted them to be on once again. Maya asked Riley what she had told him.
"No."
"You said no?" Maya echoed, and Riley nodded, her fingers wrapped around the casing of the book in her lap. "Why would you do that?"
"I don't want to be with him anymore…" Riley shrugged, restlessly pushing a piece of her dark hair behind one ear. She'd chopped it off quite dramatically the past year, so that it hung longer past her chin and shorter behind. "I can't."
"I can't see why. He's always been good to you, hasn't he?"
"Sure. Yeah, of course he has." Riley pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. Maya adjusted her body, uncertain.
"So, what then, Riles?" she asked.
"Yama…" Riley set the book beside her and scooched on the window-seat to be closer to Maya. She tapped the top of Maya's knee so that she would put her feet to the floor; Maya obliged. "I look at you sometimes."
"That is how eyes work, Sunshine."
Riley shook her head, not laughing the usual laugh that Maya had grown to love. "No, I mean I look at you-not in a friend way. Like if we hug I don't want to let go."
"That isn't weird for friends," Maya said, completely shocked that her throat hadn't closed to make her voice hitch.
"Isn't it? I want you, Maya, like… in my dreams, at night. It didn't used to be so often but recently…" Riley's cheeks were flaming; she wasn't one to talk about this type of stuff, not even with her closest friend. "Please explain this to me. Please. I feel insane."
Maya was genuinely dumbfounded. For all the years she had known Riley, she'd always been convinced that Riley's recent friendliness was exactly that. Because they're friends, as they had always been. But wouldn't Maya be lying if she didn't say that the troubles Riley spoke of were exactly the same as hers?
"You aren't insane," Maya promised, shaky. She was terrified. Those nights spent at home during a thunderstorm, when Katy would rock Maya to sleep, or watching horror movies with Riley just because they could. Those were scary. But this was terrifying. One wrong move could ruin… whatever this was.
Riley nodded, like she was trying to believe Maya was right. Slowly, a tremor traveling through her fingers, she placed her hand to the back of Maya's neck. She had no idea what to say, but the tension in her shoulders released when she felt Maya touch her cheek and it made that okay.
"Riles, I really need…" Maya nodded to herself once, sitting up taller. She could do this. It will be fine. Maya placed her lips onto Riley's. The last time had been when they were six, and their age had taken away any implication of something deeper. They'd kissed foreheads, hands, cheeks, blew raspberries against stomachs. But this was more, somehow, and they both knew it.
When Riley sighed into Maya's mouth, unexpected and needy, Maya was very much aware that she was done for. With her free hand, Riley held the side of Maya's head, simultaneously allowing Maya to gently put her against the wall she'd been leaned against what had to be hours ago now. Maya had no idea what to do; she had no idea what she had permission to do. They were all but on the floor and Maya opened her eyes to see that Riley's skin was flushed down to her neck, her fingers tangled in Maya's curls.
She pulled Maya closer, kissing her softly. "I really needed that, too, I think."
"I have. For way too long. I should've told you, Riles, I should've-"
"It's okay. As long as from now on we can do this…" With excruciating tenderness, Riley kissed her again. "Whenever."
"As if I could say no."